Milestones: 1945–1952

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National Security Act of 1947

The National Security Act of 1947 mandated a major reorganization of the foreign
policy and military establishments of the U.S. Government. The act created many
of the institutions that Presidents found useful when formulating and
implementing foreign policy, including the National Security Council (NSC).

President signing the National Security Act into Law

The Council itself included the President, Vice President, Secretary of State,
Secretary of Defense, and other members (such as the Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency), who met at the White House to discuss both long-term
problems and more immediate national security crises. A small NSC staff was
hired to coordinate foreign policy materials from other agencies for the
President. Beginning in 1953 the President’s Assistant for National Security
Affairs directed this staff. Each President has accorded the NSC with different
degrees of importance and has given the NSC staff varying levels of autonomy and
influence over other agencies such as the Departments of State and Defense.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, used the NSC meetings to make key
foreign policy decisions, while John F. Kennedy and
Lyndon B. Johnson preferred to work more informally
through trusted associates. Under President Richard M. Nixon, the NSC staff,
then headed by Henry A. Kissinger, was transformed from a
coordinating body into an organization that actively engaged in negotiations
with foreign leaders and implementing the President’s decisions. The NSC
meetings themselves, however, were infrequent and merely confirmed decisions
already agreed upon by Nixon and Kissinger.

The act also established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which grew out of
World War II era Office of Strategic Services and small post-war intelligence
organizations. The CIA served as the primary civilian intelligence-gathering
organization in the government. Later, the Defense Intelligence Agency became
the main military intelligence body. The 1947 law also caused far-reaching
changes in the military establishment. The War Department and Navy Department
merged into a single Department of Defense under the Secretary of Defense, who
also directed the newly created Department of the Air Force. However, each of
the three branches maintained their own service secretaries. In 1949 the act was
amended to give the Secretary of Defense more power over the individual services
and their secretaries.